Can my son and family move into my home without me losing Medicaid?

Have a care agreement with your son, spelling out what kind of help he and his family will be providing to you, in exchange for free rent, etc. You want to make it perfectly clear that you are not giving the rent, etc. as a gift ... that it is payment for services.

Post your question on AVVO.com - that's where I get all of my free legal advice.
https://www.avvo.com/ask-a-lawyer
I usually get response within a day, sometimes more detailed than expected.
I am not affiliated with the site, I just have had great experience with it. At least enough answers to keep me going. Good luck.

THIS IS AN EXCELLENT QUESTION, AS I TOO, AM NOW TAKING CARE OF MY ELDERLY MOTHER WITH DEMENTIA IN MY HOME. I ALSO GET MEDICAID.

rogersdbc -- It sounds to me like jeannegibbs is right about drawing up a care agreement with your son. I suggest hiring a lawyer to do this. When I became sole caregiver of my mother I consulted an eldercare attorney who accompanied me to court so I could be appointed her guardian. That gave me the right and responsibility to manage her legal, financial and medical affairs.

Thanks MaryCarther for the website. I need legal advice about my ex-husband's caregiving and later mine myself.

If you live in NY State he can become your official caregiver and be registered as such. I am not familiar with other state's laws but they may be similar. Basically, instead of having a home health aide , your son can be made the official caregiver ( and is entitled to compensation for these services). The website below is for NY State and might clarify the process
https://www.health.ny.gov/health_care/medicaid/redesign/mrt90/cdpas.htm
I hope this is helpful. Lay down some ground rules for all of you living under one roof so your relationships will continue to be loving and respectful

Yep much good advice...whatever you do, don't charge rent..
Grace + Peace,
Bob

Yes, your son his family can move in with you. It will not affect your Medicaid in any way. Of course, if they pay you rent it is taxable income and also will affect your Medicaid, but if they live their rent-free, as long as you continue to reside there, it will not affect Medicaid.
The other comments regarding a care agreement are applicable only if you wish to pay your son to take care of you, as a way of reducing your income or countable assets in order to qualify for Medicaid. If you already are qualified, then this is irrelevant.

If you have a loan on this home, one thing you're going to need to become aware of is that your dementia will only worsen and put you into a facility. Are you sure you want to go through with paying off this loan? You're probably better off to call the place that gave you the loan and just surrender this home. If you tell them the situation and mention dementia, they'll definitely see fit to help you in someway because there is coming a time you'll no longer be competent due to the nature of dementia and what it does to the mind. My foster dad developed dementia and there's no way he would've been competent in your type of situation, he ended up in a nursing home if we had to give him better care than you could ever get at home. Be very wary though, there's abuse that often goes on in these Alzheimer wings, I saw it. I would be very careful about someone moving in on your turf, especially knowing the nature of your condition. This is what people often use against you in order to take advantage of you whether knowingly or unknowingly. My bio dad developed Alzheimer's and someone ended up taking advantage of him and wrongfully taking money and resources she wasn't even entitled to and she was his POA. He should've had a guardian but he didn't and died intestate, meaning no well. This situation right here should teach you a lesson from my findings and send a strong warning to others because you may not realize it but your condition is what's most commonly used to financially abused elders. If I were you, i'd hurry up and sell off everything and put that money toward your future care in a facility but make sure you first have a trustworthy guardian. I would first meet with an eldercare lawyer who actually specializes in your kind of matter and have that lawyer help you protect your money and assets as well as help you find a trustworthy guardian

Other warnings

Telemarketers and door-to-door salesman (scammers) often target people just like you. If anyone comes to your door unannounced or unexpected, just don't answer the door or even go to it to see who it is. If someone calls and they're not on your regular contact list of people you know personally, don't take the call, cut it off. Also be very wary of these mail offers, and even online scams you may get in your email or run into online. Make sure all the mail is sorted by someone you can trust and make sure all the junk is tossed and parental safeguards are put up on your computer so you don't get into something online that can actually get you into trouble

Wow, Dontaskforhandouts, you were a little rough on rogersdbc. You got off the original idea. They never mentioned a nursing home for alzheimers. My Dad died with dimentia and was able to stay home with the loving care of family. You painted a very grim picture as if every person with memory problems end up in an abused system in an alzheimers unit. I can't blame that lady and family if you didn't scare the crap out of them. That might or might not be a decision they have to face down the road, but she seems plenty lucid enough now to write here and ask questions. I really think you need to back off with your experience, and advice. Your situation doesn't always exist in any way for another family. I would have saved your response for a question asking what to do if you have to put a family member in an alzheimers unit, and what to do and what to look for. That isn't one question they asked. I know, had I been the one asking if my kids can come live with me and received a response like yours it was very grim and not at all giving any information to their situation.

I think that is a wonderful idea that your family would take care of you. But, because you recieve Medicaid and ever have to go into a nursing home Medicaid will take the home and your son and his family will have not were to live.

I'm not sure MLE1959's information is correct. You really need to talk with an elder care attorney to get a correct answer to your question, and to learn how you might be able to protect ownership of the home for your son.
Additionally, MLE1959, there is a mortgage on the home, so that would be the primary recovery entity before Medicaid even got a shot at "taking" the home. And, for the record, Medicaid doesn't "take the home." The State might require that Medicaid expenditures be repaid from the estate of a deceased, and that might often result in the sale of the home. Anyone who is concerned about any of this REALLY needs to consult an attorney who specializes in protecting assets for Medicaid purposes.

I would like to ask about the mortgage that's due in 8 years. What is the plan to pay it off with only making payments on the interest?

Attorney Heiser has the best answer to your question - the only caveat/question I have is about your son's current home. Does he own that, and if so, what will he be doing with it while living with you? Because you have a loan you are paying interest only on, will the house will become bank property at TOD? At that time what will your son and his family do if he sells his home? If he's renting his current home, then no big deal, just find another later.

Wow... just wow to Dontask4handout

I wasn't sure what a PEL loan was and initial lookup says it is an educational loan... There was another page, but it was not clear and it really is not relavent. Given that the OP is paying interest only, there does not seem to be any intent to pay it off, so it would likely have to be paid at TOD. Whatever, it is really none of our business and the question was about having family move in and Medicaid status.

There is NO mention of dementia, just disability, so why are you bringing up nursing homes and Alz wings? It is none of our business what that disability is - OP can clarify if he/she chooses but it is also irrelavent to the question being asked and my take on what little information is there is that OP does not, at this time, have dementia. Setup for space and facilities sounds much more like the need for walker and or wheelchair, etc. Even if that NH is in the future, you flip-flop (some people choose to remain in the home right to the end and if family or someone can manage it, go for it). NH and Alz wings, you say, can be abusive, then you immediately warn against having family move in because they'll rip you off... Ummmm, so WHAT is this person supposed to do? Oh, yeah, you said it - sell everything, put it away for future care and get a trustworthy guardian... WTH??? Where would you live in the meantime? Why not go live in a cave then? If the son and family are willing to move in and care for OP, all the best to them.

Yes, there are scammers, charlatans and unscrupulous family members, but again, this was NOT the question. BTW, your warning about those door-to-door scammers - IF this OP has dementia, which again does not appear to be the case, those warnings are USELESS because once beyond a certain level that information is forgotten and/or scrambled. Another BTW, many elders are NOT suffering from dementia but still get taken because they are trusting, naive and gullible. Warn all you want, it will not help dementia sufferers (I argued this with Discover, who would give me all other access with DPOA, but not grant me online access, or even grant the one thing I wanted the online access for: set up alerts so I can check what the charge was when it was made and not have to check every day or wait a month for a statement. YOUR warning is exactly the reason WHY I wanted online access.) If a person doesn't understand but signs something or agrees to something on the phone, it is a fuzzy fraud - real fraud is having your card number compromised, whereas unwittingly agreeing to something in writing or verbally, although still wrong, is harder to prove.

As in a different post, you keep saying get a guardian. Guardian takes care of the PERSON, not the assets. Eldercare attorneys generally work out a plan to set aside assets in a trust to be used for the person who owns them AND assigns DPOA to the person/people YOU choose to trust and manage those assets. Yes, as noted above, there can be family members who take advantage of you, but just because you saw this happen (sounds more like a female "friend" of your dad, NOT a family member) you cannot go around assuming every family member or DPOA is a thief! Also, if he set up POA, why did he not make a will? Perhaps someone hid that on you as well. Usually Eldercare attorneys provide the whole package: will, medical directive, trust, DPOA, etc. Everything I have read indicates guardians (for the person) and stewards (for the assets) are generally requested and set up via that court system AFTER someone becomes unable to take care of themselves and/or finances. We are managing everything just FINE with DPOA (the court method is time consuming, expensive and requires a lot of reporting/paperwork all the time.) Asking about going the guardianship route because mom was refusing to even discuss moving ANYWHERE resulted in me ending up here on this forum. The facility we chose does NOT accept "committals", which mom would have been with guardianship. They said she has to 'want to move there on her own', but she was refusing to move anywhere. So guardianship (again, managing the PERSON) is not for managing assets, that would be stewardship.

Dontaskforhandouts, are u the one who is investigating this person who took Bio Dad's money? If so, maybe it's time to let it go. It's going o take ages to resolve and money u may never recoup.

Listen to the lawyer and enjoy your son and his family